The Centre for Korean Research invites you to a Book Talk with Peter Banseok Kwon (University at Albany, SUNY) on January 24th, 2025.
About the Talk
South Korean weapons, now known globally as “K-defense,” including K9 self-propelled howitzers and K2 main battle tanks, are being sold worldwide. How did a nation that, as recently as the early 1970s, was entirely dependent on U.S. military imports and unable to produce even basic guns and ammunition, so rapidly emerge as one of the world’s leading arms exporters while simultaneously transforming into an economic and technological powerhouse?
In his newly released book, Cornerstone of the Nation: The Defense Industry and the Building of Modern Korea under Park Chung Hee (Harvard University Asia Center, 2024), Peter Kwon examines the origins and rapid development of South Korea’s defense industry under Park Chung Hee’s regime (1961-1979) and its broad impact on the nation’s economic, technological, social, political, and diplomatic transformation. In this book talk, Kwon elucidates the intricate processes by which the state mobilized business, science, labor, and citizenry, forging complex coalitions across public-private, military-civilian, security-technology, and state-society sectors to drive simultaneous militarization and rapid industrialization. Kwon will also discuss the broader implications of the book’s findings for South Korea’s ongoing economic and security discourse.
About the Speaker
Peter Banseok Kwon is Associate Professor of Korean Studies in the Department of East Asian Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY. He earned his Ph.D. in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University, specializing in modern Korean history. His research explores the intersection of militarization, economic development, technological transformation, and nationalism in Korea and East Asia. Kwon is the author of Cornerstone of the Nation: The Defense Industry and the Building of Modern Korea under Park Chung Hee (Harvard University Asia Center, 2024). As a Fulbright U.S. Scholar, he is currently serving as a visiting professor at the Korea National Defense University and a visiting scholar at Yonsei University in South Korea for the 2024-25 academic year. His works have been published in Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of Korean Studies, Seoul Journal of Korean Studies, Korea Journal, The National Interest, East Asia Forum, and Journal of Social History.
